Scales of War

The ‘Antler and Thistle’ bar. Heh! Not sure if this is a good omen or a bad omen. On one hand, Antler, good for a hunter like myself, however, I’m not too wild about the ‘Thistle’ part though.

It’s been a hard several months this last job. Nothing worse that working for someone who thinks they know what they’re doing. Camp here, camp there. The idiot might as well as put a sign on the side of the road saying ‘Idiot’s Camp Site Over Here =>’. I guess he never heard about trying to find an easily defendable area.

Might as well get some food and drink, and hope that something will appear to do. I’m tired of working for these idiots. I think it’s about time that I’ve started looking out for myself and benefited from the hard work and boring hours.

Looking around this place, there really isn’t that much to see. Barmaids with great ‘assets’, and people with no idea what they are doing. Oh well, at least the ale is decent, maybe I’ll just drink until something happens.

By the time the hounds fracture my left arm, I can hardly distinguish each of the wounds as separate. The pain blurs together. The screams stop abruptly as the jaws shred open my abdomen. All I can manage is a wet gurgle, can’t even cough up the blood I feel pooling in my mouth. I begin to pray that the dogs will end it soon, but know when I see Gruthrak’s face that he won’t let it end that quickly. He’s trained his dogs well, they quickly leave me when he calls. He wastes a whole day torturing me before giving me the release of death. I hope I bought my friends enough time.

Please, no more pain

As the armies of Keldar pushed the orc hordes into the river sealing their destruction, Gradum kneels beside me. I can tell by the look on his face that the wound is as bad as it feels. At least I saved him, I kept my promise to Engrid. It almost makes the pain bearable.

The vortex of light and sound erupts from the wand. Each illithid in it’s path is instantly killed the arcs of lightning destroy minds as well as bodies. I can’t believe they would sit on this sort of power. Had they harvested it, the sun would be removed from the sky at a whim. I’m no longer just concerned with the coven around us, my mind can seek out each illithid for miles. A shift in concentration and a group of demons several leagues away no longer exist. The city of Kutrha prepares for war, to offer slaves and sacrifices to the spider queen. From one instant to the next, the army ceases to exist, every solder, weapon, and scrap of cloth is gone. If only I had finished reading the text a second earlier, the beam might not have disintegrated my chest. Before my body crashes to the floor, I notice Brandeth is unable to hold back his tears.

...

As the reoccurring nightmare wakes me, I feel the call. The time has come to depart the abbey. The time has come to protect another. Maybe this time is different. Maybe I’m the one who’s supposed to survive. It matters not. I am summoned, and therefore I go.

I quickly pack up a few of my most recent projects and the armor that Krandelm has lovingly crafted and maintained for me since appeared here 2 years ago. I don’t bother with words of parting. Everyone knows I would leave anyway. This morning I travel North. By nightfall, I’ll be where I need to be. After that, I will receive no more guidance, only pain and death, the only question is how many I will take with me.

At the exact moment of sunset, I pass through the door of the tavern. The sound level is jarring after years of tranquility at the abbey. Most people are normal, small lives that flicker and burn out without leaving a mark on the fabric of the world, but there are others here. They have potential. The web of destiny pulls at them. I can see already the potential for connections. Its pointless to try to glean more from the future. I approach the closest of the potential ones and introduce myself.

Sigh…the blood is taking a long time to wash off. I didn’t want to kill them, but they tried to stiff me what I was owed. 2 years I trotted along tracking every manner of beast imaginable so that those so called “adventurers” could claim them as their trophies. Adventurers, heh, what a joke…nothing more than a couple of spoiled, rebellious kids looking to prove themselves to an overbearing father. Always afraid to do anything too dangerous, but more than willing to torture creatures they knew they could easily defeat in order to pat themselves on the back and further inflate their already swollen egos…they should have paid me.

I’ve spent my whole life tracking and hunting in order to survive, skills I learned from my father until he was killed by an invading goblin horde. I hate goblins, nothing more than a vile plague of feces and disgust that take whatever they want without regard for others. Unless they can provide some sort of useful information I kill them on site.

These days I spend my time as a tracker/guide throughout the wilderness. It brings in good enough money, but work will be hard to find once people find those boys…need to keep moving, need a party to watch my back.

(Thorn dries his hands and returns to the main room of the tavern to listen for any signs of an adventuring party about to disembark.)

Master released me today…me don’t know why…me confused, sad….me thought me was pleasing Master with all of the pretty coins me was winning him…me watched the caravan disappear over the hill…they not coming back…sigh…me thirsty, me thinks that is a bar or tavern…hope me don’t get into trouble for going in…Master did give me some of his pretty coins…hopefully they will let me have something to drink for a few of the pretty coins…maybe there is someone who will help me too….Master always said fame would bring good things…maybe it will help me now….

The Antler and Thistle is especially busy tonight with about 15 customers gambling, drinking, and waiting for the night’s dinner to be served. The beautiful barmaid, Alys, is preparing a stew. A group of strangers among the patrons, stand out as peculiar to everyone else in the tavern. While none of them seem to have anything in common, only Fate could have brought them all here to this time and place, and they begin conversing with each other, and telling stories of their past.

One among them is a Deva. Many of the patrons have never even heard of the race, let alone seen one. Another that stands out is a huge Goliath, whom everyone gives a wide berth to. The Shifter wielding a longbow looks especially deadly. There is one human among them, but he is by far the most disturbing of them. Insects seem to follow him wherever he goes. Occasionally, parts of him become engulfed in the small creatures, almost as if they have eaten away a limb, only to later disappear. The only one among the strangers who does not seem unusual, and is hardly even noticed, is a Halfling who seems to always be in the shadows.

The occupants of the tavern are soon glad to have the strange group present though, when a group of hobgoblins burst through the door and begin attacking people at random. Another group soon come in through the back. The town outside seems to be under attack. A bitumen torch is thrown through the door and a table burst into flames.

The heroic strangers move swiftly, working together to fight and slay all of the invaders in the bar and the street outside. When the street is clear, they rest and notice that the hobgoblins are well armed, with new sword marked with the sign of a black arrow. They also notice that the creatures are wearing the red hand emblem, similar to the old Red Hand army that invaded the land many years ago. Their rest, however, does not last long. Several minutes later a large ogre comes around the corner of the building pulling a cart full of explosive casks, as well as two hobgoblins. The Ogre immediately launches a cask which explodes near the adventurers.

The group begins by attacking the casks on the cart, which explode and severely wound the goblins and ogre. Within a short time they defeat all three.

The next morning many have heard of the group and the way that they fought. The full extent of the attack on the town is also known. Apparently, destruction was not the only purpose of the attack. Several historic items were stolen from The Great Hall of Valor. Also, seven of the townspeople were capture and taken, and one of the heroes who helped stop the original Red Hand army was assassinated in his home. His home was then ransacked and burned.

Each of the strangers from the bar are rounded up in the morning and brought to see Councilman Eoffram Troyas, who recruited them to rescue the captured townspeople and recover the stolen artifacts.

The group agreed to team up and go after the captives and items. They began by interrogating a captured hobgoblin, who told them about the small army and their leader, Sinruth. Sinruth has been recruiting the army who sees themselves as the descendants of the Red Hand. But it seems obvious to the Deva that they have no actual connection with the historic Red Hand. They’re flying the Red Hand insignia upside-down, for starters. The hobgoblin tells them that they have been using catacombs under the ruins of Castle Rivenroar as a base for now. They have allied with the “undead horrors” that guard part of the goblins’ lair, and they took the prisoners during the raid to give feed to the undead. He draws a crude map of the mountain path that leads to Castle Rivenroar, and the party sets of to find the ruins.

Eight hours later, they make it to the castle, and find an entrance to the catacombs. The entry room is guarded by a group of goblins. After slaying them, the group looks around.

Braziers flank double doors on the north wall. Faint grooves are noticed in the floor that begin underneath the braziers and extend to the south wall. There are sets of doors to the West, North, and East. These bound iron doors have latches, but no locks. The west doors have a plaque on it that says “To Von Urstadt.” The north doors say “To Rivenroar Family.” The east doors say “To Von Jallach.”

Humans confuse us. They know not who ‘they’ are. What is ‘they’, there is only ‘us’. ‘They’ are disconnected and alone. We are not. Goblin things attack and ‘they’ go apart instead of coming together. Some fight. Perhaps these are ones we are looking for. Perhaps they don’t want to be alone. We will join them, we will help them. Maybe we will even enlighten them.

We are still hidden. They don’t see us, they see him. Human thing. ‘Tier’ is his name. Name of human friend who is not with us. Name of human friend who died. We will honor his name. We will honor his face.

We fought goblin things and we won. We are happy that we have helped them, helped us. We fought together, as one. Perhaps there is hope for human things. We will stay with them, we will help them.

We sleep….

We now going to castle to find more goblin things. Goblin things are wrong. Goblin things are ‘bad’? Human term. We fight more, but now we are afraid. Magic is fading. Soon they won’t see him, soon they will see us. How will they treat us?

At least I didn’t have to wait long to learn what I needed to do. After a relatively short introduction to the group I was seated with, I was certain they were who I was meant to meet. And this was confirmed when they quickly sprung to action when the hobgoblins attached the inn. Well, everyone except the halfling, it took her a while to come around. But I still can’t believe that the fiends made it this far into the town without the alarm being spread. Luckily the Ogre that attacked later was tied down to a tinderbox. Once all the combutables burned through his thick hide, we didn’t have to do much to dispatch it.

Councilman Troyas was a bit heavy handed in asking us for a favor. I agree with his stated intentions, but not necessarily his tact. After a small bit of cajouling to make certain that my new companions were ready to go, we all agreed to search out the people and treasures taken during the raid. I just hope that this group of wanna-be red-hands doesn’t get a lucky hit on me while we seek out their lair.

Me liked the inn and pretty lady that was at me table…think someone said she a Diva…me just call her Pretty Lady…the others at me table seemed nice…Bug Man is very funny…me like it when he turns into bugs…Bow-man looks like a good fighter…and the little guy sure was eyeing the other tables gold…me think me will like this group…course stupid goblin things runined our dinner…so me enjoyed killing them…course me enjoy killing period, me nature after all…next morning when we got asked to come to some big fancy place, me was still tired but went anyway, Pretty Lady seemed to think it was important, so me went…wound up agreeing to do something for some fancy guy, not sure what it is all about but it seems like fun…got to kill more goblin things which is always fun…now we are looking for some old stuff that the goblin things took…hope we find them, since we get lots of pretty coins for them…we shall see me guess…

It felt good to kill some goblins…the ogre was fun too, although I think in the future I will stay back and let my bow do the work…that hurt.

It looks as though fortune chose to smile on me. The thought had just crossed my mind that I needed a party to watch my back when I was seated with a group of TRUE adventurers. It’s refreshing to see people handle themselves in a real battle for a change. The goblins were ferocoius in their attack, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen them this organized…and then there’s the ogre, how they were able to control that beast is worthy of investigating. Maybe we will find the answer during our current assignment.

The group of adventurers I battled alongside last night and I have been charged with the recovery of seven townsfolk as well as several artifacts that were taken from town during the raid. We expect that the road will be rough, catacombs are never very inviting…especially when they play host to the undead. It will be interesting to see how our little group grows and if we can, in fact, accomplish this task with honor…we shall see.

The Prisoners

Adronsius
Owner and proprietor of Alchemy by Adronsius, Adronsius has a much larger interest in plants and nature than the average dwarf.

Jalissa
Jalissa is a young woman whom has only recently begun her acolytehood at the College of Ioun. She has been captured by the hobgoblins.

Kartenix
While he reports to Lord Warden Harrik Orenna, Kartenix is the day-to-day leader of the Golden Lions and is very popular with the guards.

Mirtala
Mirtala is the lead cook at The Marooned Schooner. The halfling clans that ply the Elsir River swear by her cooking.

Sertanian
Sertanian served in the militia during the Invasion of the Red Hand. Now he serves as castellan for the Hall of Great Valor, where he watches over all the items of the Invasion.

Thurann
8-year-old son of Kartenix, the Guard Captain. He’s been known to get into his own fair share of trouble.

Zarriksa
Zarriksa lives on the river, where she is commonly found picking herbs and fishing. Many believe these activities to be preparations for her witchcraft rituals.

The Treasure

The people of Brindol want their friends and neighbors back; that’s their primary concern. But they also want some of the treasures back from their “Hall of Great Valor.” Most of the “treasures” have little or no intrinsic value. They’re museum pieces from the “Red Hand” invasion many years ago. But the sentimental value to the town is immense.

Ornate, gilded dragoncrest helm.

Ceremonial platinum longsword; too heavy and blunt to be useful as a weapon.

Set of three shields with the Red Hand insignia, each with a charred hole near the center.